Koga History

This is a short history of how ninjitsu started in South Africa. The
intention of this short history is to capture the early years of
ninjitsu in South Africa and not to elaborate on the structure today
with their different affiliations, etc. This timeline has been created
by Shihan Sven Holfelder, who started his ninjitsu training under Shihan
Barry Pictor around June 1984.

Updated February 2009

The Black Dragon Fighting Society (BDFS) in South Africa started in the
Eastern Cape (Port Elizabeth ) in the early 1969 by the well-known
Captain Ben Mängles, at the time working in the South African Air Force.
There were two students training with Capt Ben Mängles in the early
1980's that are relevant to this timeline discussion. They are Barry
Pictor and Stoffel van Vuuren.

During the mid 1980's Shihan Barry Pictor, loacted in Randburg
(Johannesburg), started teaching Koga Ryu ninjitsu in South Africa under
the banner of the South African Institute of Unarmed Combat (SAIUC),
affiliated to the Black Dragon Fighting Society (BDFS). A few years
later, the SAIUC was renamed the South African Ninjitsu Federation (SANF).

During 1989, a student of Shihan Barry Pictor, namely Peter Thomson
(spelling of surname may not be correct), broke away from the SANF and
started training and teaching Togakure Ryu ninjitsu under Brin Morgan
from the United Kingdom. Peter Thomson called his group the Shadow
Warrior Society. Also during the latter part of 1980, Capt Ben Mängels
returned to the United States of America, with the training in the
Eastern Cape thereafter falling under the leadership of Stoffel van
Vuuren.

At the beginning of 1990, the first SANF dojo in Cape Town was opened under
Sensei Chris Engels, who opened a dojo in Bellville. Sensei Sven
Holfelder, who was a 1st Dan at the time and was studying engineering at
the University of Stellenbosch, attended Sensei Chris Engels' dojo as an
instructor. There were two students who started training with Sensei
Chris Engels and Sensei Sven Holfelder during 1990, and they were Paul
Bothma and Dawie de Villiers.

After completing his engineering studies at the end of 1991, Sven
Holfelder moved to Pretoria. The Pretoria dojo at that time was being
run by Sensei Bob Nicholls and then Sensei Harry Collins, from whom Sven
Holfelder took over the leadership during early 1993.

During 1994, Shihan Barry Pictor decided to stop teaching due to
personal reasons and sold the SANF to one of his instructors, namely
Sensei Adrian Fitzgerald. During this transition period, the SANF
de-affiliated themselves from the BDFS. Sensei Stoffel van Vuuren
decided to continue teaching Koga Ryu ninjitsu under the banner of the
BDFS, and not to follow the SANF. Sensei Chris Engels also decided to
not follow the SANF migration, and renamed his dojo the Cape Ninjitsu
federation. During the mid 1990's, Sensei Chris Engels also stopped
teaching and left the leadership to his two students Paul Bothma and
Dawie de Villiers. After a while, Paul Bothma and Dawie de Villiers
separated, with the Cape Ninjitsu Federation (CNF) being continued by
Paul Bothma.

During the mid to end 1990's, the CNF under Sensei Paul Bothma
affiliated to the SANF, however this affiliation only lasted a few
years. The CNF then affiliated to the BDFS, however during the early
2000's, the CNF de-affiliated from the BDFS and became a stand alone
federation.

The SANF continued until the early 2000's under the leadership of Sensei
Adrian Fitzgerald (Northgate), Sensei Sven Holfelder (Pretoria), Sensei
Nathan Lee (Linden) and Sensei Pieter Meyer (Edenvale). During the early
2000's, Sensei Adrian Fitzgerald started to train less and less due to
work commitments that took him out of South Africa and Sensei Sven
Holfelder moved to Cape Town (at the end of 2001). The SANF continued
for another few years and then started to separate, with the majority of
students and instructors affiliating with the BDFS. Sensei Pieter Meyer
did not follow the migration to the BDFS and continued with the SANF.
One of Sensei Nathan Lee's students, namely Sensei David Field, moved on
to create his own organisation called Ninja SA.

At the time of writing this history, the following can be said about the
people mentioned in this writing:

Capt Ben Mängels is located in the United States of America.

Shihan Barry Pictor is living in Johannesburg and has a honoury membership with
the BDFS in South Africa.

Soke Stoffel van Vuuren is living in Pretoria and is a Soke with the BDFS.

Peter Thomson is understood to no longer be living in South Africa. The Togakure
Ryu style of ninjitsu still continues to this day in South Africa.

Shihan Brin Morgan is living in the United Kingdom and has a successful international organisation.